Listed below are new features since the last release. Links to directly-related topics are included.
In addition to Japanese, German, and French, the installation documentation and the user interface for the installation program and IBM Cognos Configuration are available in the following languages:
Chinese (simplified)
Chinese (traditional)
Korean
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese (Brazilian)
During the installation you can select the language to use from the first page of the installation wizard. This determines the language of the user interfaces of the installation wizard and IBM Cognos Configuration. For more information, see Install IBM Cognos 8 Server Components
DB2 introduced a universal JDBC driver that contains both type 2 and type 4 JDBC driver support. IBM Cognos 8 can connect to a DB2 content store, notification database, or logging database using either type of JDBC connectivity, but you must first copy two JAR files to the IBM Cognos 8 installation directory. If you are upgrading, you can continue to use type 2 JDBC connectivity without changing the connection properties for the DB2 content store.
For more information about connection properties for the content store, see Set Database Connection Properties for the Content Store.
The two JAR files that you must copy to your IBM Cognos 8 installation directory are as follows:
a license file, for example db2jcc_license_cisuz.jar or db2jcc_license_cu.jar
a driver file, db2jcc.jar
For information about copying these files, see Set Up Database Connectivity for the Content Store Database.
You can use DB2 on z/OS as your content store, logging, or notification database.
Connection settings to DB2 on z/OS are similar to those for DB2 on Linux, UNIX and Windows. However, additional advanced settings must be configured.
For information about the configuration settings, see Suggested Settings for Creating the Content Store in DB2 on z/OS, Suggested Settings for Creating a DB2 Notification Database on z/OS, and Suggested Settings for Creating the DB2 Logging Database on z/OS.
You must run scripts to create tablespaces for storing Large Objects (LOBs). For more information, see Create Tablespaces for DB2 Content Store on z/OS, Create Tablespaces for the DB2 Notification Database on z/OS, and Create Tablespaces for DB2 Logging Database on z/OS.
IBM Cognos 8 BI version 8.4 is available for Linux on System z. After installing the required server components, you must install Framework Manager on a Windows computer to complete a basic installation. Optional server and Windows components are available to extend functionality. For more information, see the Installation and Configuration Guide for Linux on System z.
IBM Cognos 8 now supports two IP address protocols: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 uses 32-bit IP addresses and IPv6 uses 128-bit IP addresses. The default is IPv4.
For IBM Cognos Configuration to accept IPv6 addresses in the local URI properties, you must start IBM Cognos Configuration with the -ipv6 option. You can specify the option each time you open IBM Cognos Configuration from the command line.
On Windows, you can set the option permanently by adding the option to the Start menu shortcut.
For more information, see Change the IP Address Version.
Some IBM Cognos 8 server components are available for installation on 64-bit systems.
If your IBM Cognos 8 component is available as a 64-bit installation, the default paths that are used for installation and the Start menu are different from the default paths that are used in 32-bit installations.
The default installation directory, represented by the placeholder c8_location in this guide, is as follows:
For 32-bit installations, C:\Program Files\cognos\c8
For 64-bit installations, C:\Program Files\cognos\c8_64
The default shortcut in the Windows Start menu is as follows:
For 32-bit installations, IBM Cognos 8
For 64-bit installations, IBM Cognos 8 - 64
Before you install IBM Cognos 8 on a 64-bit system, check the Readme for late-breaking information about distributing the components.
IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence products are now available with support for 64-bit application servers.
For information about supported application servers, visit the IBM Cognos Resource Center (http://www.ibm.com/software/data/support/cognos_crc.html).
For information about configuration, see Configuring IBM Cognos 8 for an Application Server other than Tomcat.
You can now hide namespaces from users during login. This lets you have trusted signon namespaces without showing them on the namespace selection list that is presented when users log in. For more information, see Hide the Namespace from Users During Login.